The Failure of Success
by CheerfulChemist
Summary: This story is the same universe as Growth & Growth II and starts between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The M rating is just for safety. I may get carried away a bit during hiatus. A chemist is murdered, Alexis and Martha have new endeavors and Rick and Kate must cope with all of it as Christmas approaches. Follow me on twitter @CheerfulChemist
1. Chapter 1

The Failure of Success

Castle's ecstasy in his elaborate preparations for Christmas had been intruded upon by Gina. She wanted two more chapters and she wanted them last week, so he had been up most of the night, his creativity driven by caffeine. After typing the last word, he wearily climbed into bed next to Beckett, but was unable to still his overstimulated brain. He lay, staring at the tiny reflections of the city lights off the shadow box of shells they had gathered together in the Hamptons. Rick felt for Kate's hand and her fingers clasped around his, even in sleep. Fingers still clasped, he pulled her into the curve of his body. Kate stirred at the warmth against her back, causing Castle to hold her closer still, until his inevitable arousal began. Kate could feel it growing, feeding her own awareness and she turned to him, seeking his pressure against her most sensitive places, to quell her own growing need. But her urgency grew. As she took him inside her, they gave to each other with hands and lips on every inch of sensitive skin, in constant motion until the hot waves of pleasure crested and broke, leaving them joyfully spent. Rick was finally able to close his eyes in sleep.

Morning came too soon, but Castle made the best of it, crafting lattes with leafy boughs for the season and adding spicy cinnamon to Beckett's pumps of vanilla. Festive pancakes in the shape of bells and angels, brought a cheery note to a breakfast consumed at the kitchen counter. Castle and Beckett departed for the 12th in good spirits.

"Yo!" Esposito called as they came in. "Just got one, Leto labs."

Leto labs was housed in what had once been a meatpacking plant and still housed tables of shiny stainless steel. The tables now held a variety of test equipment and instrumentation, and the body lay on the floor in front of one of them. The victim wore a lab coat and the most noticeable thing about her was her blue lips.

Greeting Lanie, who was bending over the body, Beckett asked,"Do you have a cause of death?"

Lanie stood, shaking her head. "No wounds, no ligature marks, from what I have seen so far, there's not a mark on her. I'll have to get her to the lab."

Ryan wandered over from where he had been talking to a handsome young man. "Lab tech over there, Tony Kolato, says the victim is Judith Spicer. He works for her. She's usually the first one in the building and he found her when he came in. He say's there's a husband. He thinks the office manager, Margo Keaton, should have contact information."

Margo Keaton was an efficient looking woman in flats and horn rimmed glasses. Though obviously upset, she quickly printed out a copy of Judith Spicer's emergency information, listing her husband Tom's numbers and their home address. No business address was listed for Tom. Margo told Beckett that it was her understanding that he worked out of the Spicer apartment and could usually be found there.

Beckett and Castle went to make the notification. When they rang the bell, it took a while for Tom Spicer to open the door. "I'm sorry, I was on a conference call," he explained.

Beckett showed him her badge and asked if she and Castle could come in. Spicer opened the door. "What's this about?" he asked.

"Mr Spicer," Beckett told him as gently as she could, "I'm sorry, but your wife has been found dead."

Spicer ran his hands nervously through his hair. "That's crazy! I just saw her a couple of hours ago. She went to the lab."

"Mr. Spicer," Beckett soothed, "I'm very sorry for your loss, but that is where she was found."

Spicer seemed very shaky. Beckett asked him if he wanted to sit down and Castle got him a glass of water from the kitchen. Spicer sat, took a couple of sips of water and rolled the glass between his palms. Beckett and Castle pulled up chairs to face him, with Beckett beginning the questioning. "Mr. Spicer, was your wife in good health?"

"She just had a checkup. She was fine."

"Can you think of anyone who would want to hurt her?"

"No. She did good work, green chemistry. She helped build the company, gave people jobs. That's insane! There'd be no reason. Please, could you just leave me alone."

"I'm sorry," Castle told him, rising to leave.

Beckett rose as well, handing Spicer her card. "If you think of anything, call me, day or night."

In the hall outside the apartment Beckett put her head on Castle's shoulder as he held her. "You'd think that would get easier," she said, "but it doesn't."

"That's because you care," Castle told her. "You know what they feel. That's what makes you so very good. Castle kissed the top of her head as she snuggled tightly into the warmth penetrating even the wool of his coat.

Lanie called, saying she had some preliminary information. Beckett and Castle met her at the morgue. "Judith Spicer was poisoned," Lanie announced as they came in. "It was cyanide."

"Someone put it in her food?" Castle asked.

"Nope," Lanie answered. "She didn't have anything in her stomach but breakfast. It was hydrogen cyanide gas. She breathed it."

"How did that happen?" Beckett asked.

"Girlfriend, that's your department," Lanie told her. "I just know that she did. She died between seven and eight this morning."

Beckett called CSU to have them gather up anything at Leto labs that might have cyanide in it. Beckett and Castle returned to the 12th and Beckett called Esposito and Ryan to the murder board. Beckett filled in the time of death and wrote "breathed cyanide." "Espo," she said, "get financials on Judith Spicer. Ryan, start a canvass around Leto labs to see if anyone saw anything and get that lab tech, Tony Kolato in here.

Beckett and Castle sat across the table in the box from Tony Kolato. "Mr. Kolato, what can you tell us about Judith Spicer's work?"

"I don't know how much I'm allowed to tell you," the tech answered. "The stuff she was working on right now is supposed to be a trade secret. She had a special mix of protein and carbohydrate, all green, all bio-based. She added something to it to make it form a coating. It was supposed to resist all sorts of things and replace the chemicals they use for that now, that are being banned because they ruin the environment. That much is already public from presentations she made.

"Can you tell me if she used any cyanide?"

Tony looked at Beckett as if she had just grown horns. "No! She didn't use anything poisonous. That was the whole point of her work."

"What was your relationship with her?" Castle asked.

"We didn't have a relationship," Tony answered. "She was my boss. I ran tests for her, built equipment for her, pretty much whatever she wanted."

"Was she a good boss?" Beckett asked.

"She was," Tony answered without hesitation. "She gave me flexibility in my hours, let me leave if I needed to, listened to my ideas. She was probably the best boss I've ever had." Tony seemed to be fighting very hard to avoid tearing up.

Beckett stood and extended a hand. "Mr. Kolato, thank you very much for coming in."

"He liked her," Castle mused after Tony left.

Beckett nodded, "Maybe too much."

Castle and Beckett returned to the loft for a late supper. Martha was greatly excited about a new staring role she had won in a Broadway play. She regaled them over over savory quiche and white wine. She had made plans for her rival Maude to take over some of the teaching duties at the school and would be starting rehearsals in two days. Alexis also shared dinner and discussed her role as a researcher for a moot trial at Columbia.

When Alexis had gone back uptown and Martha had finally retired to her room to study her script, Castle and Beckett discussed the case over the last of the wine.

"Statistically, it's the husband," Beckett speculated. "He might have thought she was having an affair with Tony Kolato, or wanted to. But we have to ask how he would have gotten cyanide and how he would have gotten her to breathe it. Or Tony might have had an easier time with that if he was jealous of the husband. We need to see what CSU comes up with."

"I didn't read either of them as a murderer," Castle said.

"I didn't either," Beckett told him. "But I have to investigate anyway. You know that. Is there something else in that vivid imagination of yours?"

Castle leaned across the table to place a wine flavored kiss on Beckett's lips. "Beckett," he whispered. "You have no idea."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Huh, huh, huh, huh, hah!" Martha's acting exercises cut through the early morning silence of the loft. Castle groaned and stumbled out of bed. Pulling on a robe, he went to see if he could quiet her down a bit.

"Mother," he whined. It's five A.M.!"

"One must sacrifice for one's craft," she exhorted proudly.

"But this was my sacrifice," Castle argued. "I was showing Beckett a lagoon on Bora Bora and it turned into a puddle in front of a screeching subway train."

"And I sacrifice for my son," Martha told him. "Go back to bed. I'll work on my relaxation exercises."

Castle smiled with half of his mouth. "Thank you Mother."

Beckett had a pillow over her head. She lifted it, glaring at Castle. "Relaxation exercises, that's what I need right now."

"After all these years with mother, I know how those work," Castle told her. "Actually they're pretty similar to exercises for childbirth."

"How do you know that?" Beckett asked. "Meredith?"

Castle snorted. "Meredith wanted as little work and as many drugs as possible. No I did some research. When we're ready, I'll be there for you."

Beckett smiled and gave him a quick kiss. "That's sweet!"

"You want to give it a go?" Castle asked.

Beckett laughed. "Why not?"

Kate listened to the soothing sound of Rick's voice as he instructed her in slow steady breathing. Starting with her toes and moving up, he had her relax every part of her body as he brushed it with featherlight touch. She felt limp and luscious, as she lay completely relaxed. Rick climbed into bed beside her, spooning her as she drowsed.

Kate groaned as the alarm buzzed. "I am too comfortable to get up."

Rick ran his hands up and down her arms. "Get in the shower. I'll help you wake up."

Kate reluctantly made her way to the bathroom with Rick behind her. Rick turned on both shower heads full blast and they stepped under the warm water. Rick loaded a rough loofah with a subtle herbal gel and scrubbed it over the surface of Kate's skin, covering her in shiny bubbles. Using the spray attachment, Rick washed off the foam, paying special attention to his favorite places. Rick washed Kate's hair with the cherry shampoo they both loved, rinsing carefully with the warm spray as the scent blended with the steam. Kate was more than awake and she could see very clearly that Rick was too. She returned his ministrations with his own spicy gel. He arched as she washed him off, pulling her to him and lifting her up. They fit like two halves of a whole. Kate wrapped her long legs around him and he braced against the walls of the enclosure. Mouths joined and tongues dueling, they moved together as shower walls rattled and water streamed over them, splashing at Rick's feet. Arms around Rick's neck, Kate threw her head back as the climax came in shuddering waves. Rick held her tightly until she was able to move again, lowering her feet to the shower floor.

Beckett got a call from Lanie. It took coffee, lot's of coffee, to get to the morgue. Lanie regarded them with a knowing look. "You two started early this morning," she quipped.

"Just tell me about the case, Lanie," Beckett told her.

"CSU found a beaker with a mixture of protein powder, potassium cyanide and dilute acetic acid on Judith Spicer's work table. If she added the acid to the powder mixture, she would have gotten a face full of hydrogen cyanide gas."

"Acid," Castle repeated, "her tech said she didn't work with anything dangerous."  
"It wasn't dangerous. Dilute acetic acid is vinegar." Lanie told him.

"And vinegar has a strong enough smell to cover the smell of the cyanide," Castle added.

"Give the man a prize," Lanie said.

"So someone added potassium cyanide to her protein mixture so she would kill herself," Beckett speculated.

"Mmm hmm," Lanie agrees. "Looks that way."

"Right now that would lead us straight to Tony Kolato, but we need to find out who else had access to that lab."

Ryan approached Castle and Beckett as soon as they settled at Beckett's desk at the 12th. "We found something on the canvass. There was a large black SUV parked by the lab for about fifteen minutes last night, around ten. No plate, though."

"A black SUV, that narrows it down," Beckett commented, but she wrote it on the board.

"Yo," Esposito called. "I went over Judith Spicer's financials. She didn't have any money problems, in fact she made a lot more than her husband."

"Check Tony Kolato," Beckett told him. Esposito nodded and walked away. "Ryan, check the traffic video. See if you can find more on that black SUV."

"Already on it," Ryan answered.

"Castle, let's go back to Leto labs."

Beckett and Castle sat down with Margo Keaton.

"Ms Keaton," Beckett told her, "we need a list of everyone with access to the laboratory."

"I can give you one," Margo told her, "but it's everyone who works here. Judith locked up her notebooks in a firesafe, but the lab was never locked. If nothing else, it would have been a problem with the fire laws, but everyone signs confidentiality agreements. There's no reason to lock things up."

"Great," Beckett muttered. "One more thing. Does anyone here drive a black SUV?"

"We don't keep records of cars," Margo told her, "but I think Tony Kolato does."

"Is he here?" Beckett asked.

"No," Margo told her. "The lab is his workspace and you people have it taped off. He can't do anything."

Beckett sent some uniforms to get Tony Kolato into the 12th again.

"Mr Kolato," Beckett asked. "Do you drive a black SUV?"

"Yes," Tony answered. "Why?"

Beckett ignored the question. "Where were you around ten o'clock last night?"

"Home," Tony answered.

"Anyone with you?" Beckett asked.

"No," Tony answered, "but I was online. I sent e-mails. They should be timestamped."

"Mind if we check that out?" Beckett asked.

"It was on my laptop," Kolato told her, pushing a key across the table. "Be my guest."

Beckett sent some uniforms to get Kolato's laptop and she delivered it to Tory Ellis. Tory reported that there had been a steady stream of emails from nine-thirty to ten-thirty P.M.. Frustrated, Beckett had to let Tony Kolato go.

When Castle and Beckett got back to the loft, they found Alexis waiting.

"Kate, can I talk to you for a few minutes. I have some questions on evidence gathering, for the moot trial.

"Of course," Beckett told her.

"I'll just make dinner while you two are talking," Castle said. "Are you staying Alexis?"

"I already ate with Buttons," Alexis told him, "but thanks Dad."

After Alexis left, Beckett and Castle sat down to turkey a la king.

"What did Alexis need to ask you?" Castle asked.

"She wanted to know how we figure out if evidence is planted."

"I think we both know too much about that," Castle said, giving an involuntary shudder at memories of 3XK.

Beckett decided it would be a good idea to change the subject. "This is the sixth time we've had turkey, counting breakfasts, Castle. How much more is there?"

"Not much. It was a big turkey," Castle answered. "That's part of the fun of Thanksgiving, trying to figure out how to use up the leftovers."

"And what other kind of fun are you figuring out, Castle?"

"Wait till you see dessert."

"Better not be turkey," Beckett muttered.

Castle just wiggled his eyebrows and gave her a dazzling smile.

A/N The basic chemistry for this murder is OK but the details are off. That was deliberate. Don't try this at home.


End file.
